Wheaton North finds top gear
against St. Francis
Simon breaks out with hat-trick in 4-0 Hillner Classic victory
By Patrick Z. McGavin
WHEATON — As a freshman two years ago Wheaton North forward Josh Simon had the worst possible high school debut imaginable.
He suffered a broken leg and missed the entire season. The next campaign he elected to bypass high school for club opportunities last.
Now Simon is back, and he is the one inflicting pain. His combination of a 5-foot-11 frame, speed and physical power in space makes him an exceptionally difficult player to contain.
“In the last two years, he has physically matured so much,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “As a center forward, having a body like that, with speed like that … he just has a nose for the goal.”
Simon delivered a breakthrough performance by scoring three times in the host Falcons’ 4-0 victory over St. Francis in satellite pool play of the 31st-annual Hillner Classic.
Wheaton North (1-2-1) secured its first victory of the year, and swept aside the bad taste of a 5-1 rout against defending state champion and no.3 York on Saturday.
Simon is not a glancing or discursive player. He has a punishing and direct style. It is easier to watch than slow down.
In scoring his first goals as a high school player, Simon exceeded the total goals (two) the Falcons manufactured through their first three games of the year.
Opening up the attack was a point of emphasis.
“I like to play more back up to the goal. … I also like to go through with the long balls,” Simon said. “I like to put the ball in the back of the net.
“The one-two combination play with my teammates is something else I really like. We communicated really well, and the long balls worked very well.”
Playing just its second game of the season, St. Francis (0-2-0) suffered its second-consecutive shutout coming off the heels of a 2-0 loss against host and 25th-ranked Lake Park in its tournament opener on Saturday.
The Spartans are still working out the kinks in their own attack.
“Our team is all about coming together,” forward Luc Swiatek said. “We graduated a bunch of seniors, and we lost our entire midfield. Our middle attack is pretty much completely new.
“Once we figure out our middle, we should be fine. We have a strong back. We are still trying to figure out our offense, but that will come with the middle as we get more experience and time together.”
By Stassen’s account, Wheaton North is a colorful and rambunctious team.
“We have a little bit of everything, and we’re trying to figure out how to have all of us play together,” he said.
“We have some great personalities. We have some really smart guys who don’t want to talk, and other players who want to talk all the time. We have a lot of emotion, which we are trying to control.”
The York game Saturday proved both a wake-up alarm, and a kind of call to arms that greater effort, seriousness and pride were necessary for making the leap forward.
“We are coming off a couple of rough games, and we have this mentality that we should just win it,” Stassen said.
“We need to play hard and want to win. The York game was tough to play, but I’m glad we got the result we did, despite getting humbled.”
The play of Simon and midfielder Max Riccelli set the dominant tone with two early goals. They energized the Wheaton North attack and left the Spartans reeling from the early knockdown blow.
The Falcons have great size in the middle of the attack with 6-foot-2 Riccelli and 6-foot-1 Tim Dulzer. They play with a physical and ruthless abandon.
“I feel like I do well getting my body between the player and the ball,” Riccelli said. “If I do get past somebody, most of the time I’m going to get struck, or fouled, like today.”
Wheaton North turned up the heat, and Simon proved dangerous when free at the top center of the attack.
“We want to get better with our game, and be more deadly in the final third, and generate more shots on target and put balls away,” Simon said.
A great combination of Riccelli and forward David Kam set up Simon’s first goal, a laser shot from about 14 yards; it crystallized how dangerous the Falcons attack is capable of becoming.
“I feel like since Day One, I have been able to connect with Josh,” Riccelli said. “I love being able to pick my head up, being able to play through-balls and help out my teammates.
“Josh is there to finish those chances.”
Turnaround is fair play was the natural call after Riccelli followed up the first Simon goal by blasting home a shot of his own for his first goal of the season, working off a beautiful ball from midfielder Julian Ospina.
The Falcons fell out of the five-team round-robin tournament’s title picture after losing their first two games. For this game, the players were loose, energetic and dialed in.
The pressure Riccelli created in the middle drew multiple St. Francis defenders. In the 23rd minute, he was fouled inside the box.
“Now being a senior, I feel like I have stepped up into the role of being a playmaker and being able to create chances for my teammates,” Riccelli said.
He willingly gave up the penalty kick attempt to Simon. His conversion put the Falcons up 3-0.
“I can go well with any circumstance,” Simon said
Class AA St. Francis was a bit dazed. They are the only non-Class 3A school in the Hillner field.
“It’s really early in the season, so we can’t get super down,” Swiatek said. “This is also a tournament game, and it’s not the conference, which is our focus.”
Despite chasing three goals at the midway juncture of the first half, St. Francis showed greater combination play, hustle and determination toward the end of the first half.
Mason Karch had two very dangerous free kicks in the 32nd and 38th minutes that Falcons’ keeper Joe Wakeman had to make athletic stops to prevent goals.
The Spartans played their best soccer at the start of the second half, building out of the back and pushing numbers forward. Swiatek was dangerous on the wing and made several strong pushes toward the Falcons’ box.
The other forwards, Karch and Cooper Winslow, showed creativity and developing pressure in the final third.
“I think we ended the first half a little down. But then we regained our composure, and I thought we found ourselves and played better in the second half,” Swiatek said.
Hartle also showed his mettle with a couple of beautiful saves. His presence played a part in Riccelli missing wide left on his own penalty kick in the 52nd minute.
The Falcons’ length, size, and speed eventually wore the Spartans out.
Simon, who claimed the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his outstanding play, put the finishing touch on the victory with a beautiful juking, whirling-dervish move. He took the ball in space and lifted a beautiful shot from 33 yards that punctuated his hat-trick.
“Today is what we needed from him to get him on the board, and get him scoring,” Stassen said. “Now that the leash is off, let’s see what the rest of the season brings.”
Starting lineups
St. Francis
GK: Simon Hartle
D: Aaron Cook
D: Ben Fasana
D: Justin Klein
D: Matthew Marsico
MF: Nick Madden
MF: Nicolas Tisljar
MF: Sam Wessel
F: Mason Karch
F: Luc Swiatek
F: Cooper Winslow
Wheaton North
GK: Joe Wakeman
D: William Bonga
D: Lucas Klingler
D: Kyle Komro
MF: Carson Bilut
MF: Tim Dulzer
MF: Max Riccelli
MF: Carter Evans
F: PaPu Thang
F: Josh Simon
F: David Kam
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josh Simon, jr., F, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North—Josh Simon (David Kam), 11th minute
Wheaton North—Max Riccelli (Julian Ospina), 16th minute
Wheaton North—Simon (penalty kick), 23rd minute
Second half
Wheaton North—Simon (Carson Bilut), 60th minute
against St. Francis
Simon breaks out with hat-trick in 4-0 Hillner Classic victory
By Patrick Z. McGavin
WHEATON — As a freshman two years ago Wheaton North forward Josh Simon had the worst possible high school debut imaginable.
He suffered a broken leg and missed the entire season. The next campaign he elected to bypass high school for club opportunities last.
Now Simon is back, and he is the one inflicting pain. His combination of a 5-foot-11 frame, speed and physical power in space makes him an exceptionally difficult player to contain.
“In the last two years, he has physically matured so much,” Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen said. “As a center forward, having a body like that, with speed like that … he just has a nose for the goal.”
Simon delivered a breakthrough performance by scoring three times in the host Falcons’ 4-0 victory over St. Francis in satellite pool play of the 31st-annual Hillner Classic.
Wheaton North (1-2-1) secured its first victory of the year, and swept aside the bad taste of a 5-1 rout against defending state champion and no.3 York on Saturday.
Simon is not a glancing or discursive player. He has a punishing and direct style. It is easier to watch than slow down.
In scoring his first goals as a high school player, Simon exceeded the total goals (two) the Falcons manufactured through their first three games of the year.
Opening up the attack was a point of emphasis.
“I like to play more back up to the goal. … I also like to go through with the long balls,” Simon said. “I like to put the ball in the back of the net.
“The one-two combination play with my teammates is something else I really like. We communicated really well, and the long balls worked very well.”
Playing just its second game of the season, St. Francis (0-2-0) suffered its second-consecutive shutout coming off the heels of a 2-0 loss against host and 25th-ranked Lake Park in its tournament opener on Saturday.
The Spartans are still working out the kinks in their own attack.
“Our team is all about coming together,” forward Luc Swiatek said. “We graduated a bunch of seniors, and we lost our entire midfield. Our middle attack is pretty much completely new.
“Once we figure out our middle, we should be fine. We have a strong back. We are still trying to figure out our offense, but that will come with the middle as we get more experience and time together.”
By Stassen’s account, Wheaton North is a colorful and rambunctious team.
“We have a little bit of everything, and we’re trying to figure out how to have all of us play together,” he said.
“We have some great personalities. We have some really smart guys who don’t want to talk, and other players who want to talk all the time. We have a lot of emotion, which we are trying to control.”
The York game Saturday proved both a wake-up alarm, and a kind of call to arms that greater effort, seriousness and pride were necessary for making the leap forward.
“We are coming off a couple of rough games, and we have this mentality that we should just win it,” Stassen said.
“We need to play hard and want to win. The York game was tough to play, but I’m glad we got the result we did, despite getting humbled.”
The play of Simon and midfielder Max Riccelli set the dominant tone with two early goals. They energized the Wheaton North attack and left the Spartans reeling from the early knockdown blow.
The Falcons have great size in the middle of the attack with 6-foot-2 Riccelli and 6-foot-1 Tim Dulzer. They play with a physical and ruthless abandon.
“I feel like I do well getting my body between the player and the ball,” Riccelli said. “If I do get past somebody, most of the time I’m going to get struck, or fouled, like today.”
Wheaton North turned up the heat, and Simon proved dangerous when free at the top center of the attack.
“We want to get better with our game, and be more deadly in the final third, and generate more shots on target and put balls away,” Simon said.
A great combination of Riccelli and forward David Kam set up Simon’s first goal, a laser shot from about 14 yards; it crystallized how dangerous the Falcons attack is capable of becoming.
“I feel like since Day One, I have been able to connect with Josh,” Riccelli said. “I love being able to pick my head up, being able to play through-balls and help out my teammates.
“Josh is there to finish those chances.”
Turnaround is fair play was the natural call after Riccelli followed up the first Simon goal by blasting home a shot of his own for his first goal of the season, working off a beautiful ball from midfielder Julian Ospina.
The Falcons fell out of the five-team round-robin tournament’s title picture after losing their first two games. For this game, the players were loose, energetic and dialed in.
The pressure Riccelli created in the middle drew multiple St. Francis defenders. In the 23rd minute, he was fouled inside the box.
“Now being a senior, I feel like I have stepped up into the role of being a playmaker and being able to create chances for my teammates,” Riccelli said.
He willingly gave up the penalty kick attempt to Simon. His conversion put the Falcons up 3-0.
“I can go well with any circumstance,” Simon said
Class AA St. Francis was a bit dazed. They are the only non-Class 3A school in the Hillner field.
“It’s really early in the season, so we can’t get super down,” Swiatek said. “This is also a tournament game, and it’s not the conference, which is our focus.”
Despite chasing three goals at the midway juncture of the first half, St. Francis showed greater combination play, hustle and determination toward the end of the first half.
Mason Karch had two very dangerous free kicks in the 32nd and 38th minutes that Falcons’ keeper Joe Wakeman had to make athletic stops to prevent goals.
The Spartans played their best soccer at the start of the second half, building out of the back and pushing numbers forward. Swiatek was dangerous on the wing and made several strong pushes toward the Falcons’ box.
The other forwards, Karch and Cooper Winslow, showed creativity and developing pressure in the final third.
“I think we ended the first half a little down. But then we regained our composure, and I thought we found ourselves and played better in the second half,” Swiatek said.
Hartle also showed his mettle with a couple of beautiful saves. His presence played a part in Riccelli missing wide left on his own penalty kick in the 52nd minute.
The Falcons’ length, size, and speed eventually wore the Spartans out.
Simon, who claimed the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his outstanding play, put the finishing touch on the victory with a beautiful juking, whirling-dervish move. He took the ball in space and lifted a beautiful shot from 33 yards that punctuated his hat-trick.
“Today is what we needed from him to get him on the board, and get him scoring,” Stassen said. “Now that the leash is off, let’s see what the rest of the season brings.”
Starting lineups
St. Francis
GK: Simon Hartle
D: Aaron Cook
D: Ben Fasana
D: Justin Klein
D: Matthew Marsico
MF: Nick Madden
MF: Nicolas Tisljar
MF: Sam Wessel
F: Mason Karch
F: Luc Swiatek
F: Cooper Winslow
Wheaton North
GK: Joe Wakeman
D: William Bonga
D: Lucas Klingler
D: Kyle Komro
MF: Carson Bilut
MF: Tim Dulzer
MF: Max Riccelli
MF: Carter Evans
F: PaPu Thang
F: Josh Simon
F: David Kam
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josh Simon, jr., F, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North—Josh Simon (David Kam), 11th minute
Wheaton North—Max Riccelli (Julian Ospina), 16th minute
Wheaton North—Simon (penalty kick), 23rd minute
Second half
Wheaton North—Simon (Carson Bilut), 60th minute